Since 1950, Latin America's major cities have grown
dramatically. The combined population of today's four mega-cities
(Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro)
increased from some 13 million in 1950 to around 60 million in
1990 (UNDIESA, 1991). If we also include the three cities which
have more than four million people (Bogotá, Lima, and Santiago),
nearly 60 million additional people were added to Latin America's
metropolitan population in forty years. This chapter is concerned
with the effects of this massive population expansion on housing,
servicing, and land use.

My general argument is that Latin America's major cities have
coped with the pressures of rapid population growth extremely
well. Housing and servicing provision has generally, if not
universally, kept up with the pace of urban expansion. This does
not mean that people live well, or that most people are well
housed or serviced, or that the major cities are free of severe
problems; it does mean that there is little sign of
deterioration. Only in a couple of cities can a case really be
made that living conditions are getting worse.

The problems facing Latin America's major cities are hardly
peculiar to them. Indeed, they have begun to look more and more
like the cities of the developed world. In many respects,
"developed" and "less developed" cities have
been converging in form. Many cities in Europe and North America
now contain stereotypical features of the Latin American
metropolis: homelessness, unemployment, and a burgeoning
"informal sector." Similarly, Latin American cities
have begun to look much more like "developed" cities,
sprouting skyscrapers and adopting the car-based, privatized
culture of the North American and Western European city. Latin
America's major cities increasingly share the same urban problems
as major cities in most developed countries. Such problems are
the result of economic recession combined with the unfettered
workings of capitalist land and housing markets, the rolling back
of the state, and the unlimited use of the private car. Latin
American cities are different only in so far as they are
generally poorer than cities in the developed world and also
because they suffered much more seriously from economic decline
during the 1980s.

Table 4.1 The growth of self-help housing in selected Latin
American cities

a. The figure for 1991 is based on the favela
population. It therefore excludes consolidated seff-help housing.
b. Changed basis of calculation.
c. Except for the 1989 figure, the figures for São Paulo record
the proportion of the population living in favelas. They
therefore underestimate the total population living in self-help
housing. The 1989 figure records the proportion living in favelas
and in "precarious housing." Figures are for the
municipality of São Paulo.
d. Estimates based on the area of land developed by decade since
1935. Population figures estimated by author.
e. Changed basis of calculation.

This chapter deals with a number of related issues. First, it
discusses how effectively the huge growth in Latin America's
metropolitan population has been accommodated: the way in which
such vast numbers of people have been housed and the extent to
which servicing has managed to keep up with demand. Second, it
considers trends in residential structure: has segregation been
increasing or decreasing and how has its form changed? Third, the
chapter examines urban form: to what extent have Latin American
cities developed polynuclear urban forms, a tendency that has
been widespread among urban agglomerations in the developed
world? What is happening to the inner city; is this expanding or
contracting, commercializing or gentrifying?

The chapter includes discussion of four cities which have not
so far achieved mega-city status: Bogotá, Caracas, Lima, and
Santiago. Their inclusion has the advantage of showing how
extreme size affects, and fails to affect, the process of urban
growth. It also allows a wider breadth of experience to be
addressed. Perhaps surprisingly, it also improves the data set,
since some of these smaller cities have better information than
some of the mega-cities.